I felt bad about that, so I bought one of their stoves to compare to my ripoff. Performance is about the same, but theirs is more convenient because the control knob is at the end of a piece of steel cable that lets you adjust the flame from outside the windscreen. If you are looking to buy an alcohol stove, I recommend it highly.

But, I couldn't resist building my own.

The air intake is on the sides, under a band of aluminum that opens or closes when you turn the bottle cap. The flame comes up through the center hole in the top. On high it spreads out to cover the bottom of a 6" bot when all the way open. Because you are regulating the airflow, not the fuel or flame, it works just fine with esbit tablets, too. The snuffer lid lets you put it out when you are done cooking. It cools in about 3 minutes or less, then you can slurp out the leftover fuel with the straw on the fuel bottle.

Mine is more stable than the packafeather, and just about as compact. It fits perfectly into a coleman stainless steel french press, along with a windscreen, tinderbox, a few candles and a hanky. Fuel has to be carried separately.

I made this a few years ago, and had to go through several iterations to get the order of assembly right, but didn't keep any notes. Sorry. I timed boiling and all that, but lost those notes when we moved. In general, it performs as well as any of my stoves when wide open and simmers gently when closed, with a smooth range of adjustability between. Works well with my backcountry oven, too. I love this thing almost as much as the packafeather, and would love it more if it had the remote-adjustment feature I mentioned above. I'll get some pics of it in action soon, so you can see the flame and all.

Welcome aboard!Most of us have taken alcohol stove designs shown in public and tried(or succeeded)to improve them.There are a lot of good ideas floating around out there.Don't feel like the Lone Ranger there.. To me it is more interesting to fabricate my own from readily available materials at your local supermarket,craft store, or Home Depot..but it is good to see you give recognition and a "Atta boy!" to the designer of the original stove...and purchase their product to see what really makes them tick."Hands on" is always a better way to analyze a stove,see how it works or compares to others on the market..or compared to your own creations.

The views and opinions expressed by this person are his own and not the general consensus of others on this website.Realityguy

I am having trouble with posting pics, but basically, I posted the cookset, packed and unpacked, high and low flame, a cup of joe and the fuel bottle after the whole thing. It was full to the rim, so I estimate I used about 3/4 oz to boil 2 cups water for coffee. It took about 6 minutes to boil. Not bad. Priming is fast. Just put a little fuel in the gutter around the top, light that. One thing I noticed is that the collar is starting to want to stay open. If I can figure out how to add some friction to the knob, all is well.

3/4oz of fuel for all that water says you got a nice stove going there...good job!!!

Do you pre adjust the rotating knob or during the heating of the water? The knob has got to be hot once the water comes to a boil and then to simmer. Once you tighten up the knob, you'll have to have the pot still on the stove when you adjust or else the stove will slide around trying to adjust it, right?

zelph wrote:Do you pre adjust the rotating knob or during the heating of the water? The knob has got to be hot once the water comes to a boil and then to simmer. Once you tighten up the knob, you'll have to have the pot still on the stove when you adjust or else the stove will slide around trying to adjust it, right?

Tell us about the big windscreen with handles

It can be adjusted while it is burning, but, yeah, the knob does get hot. I use a stick of something to nudge the knob around. It takes a few seconds to calm down from wide open to a lower flame, so you gotta plan ahead a little. And yeah, the pot needs to be in place to avoid moving the stove around while adjusting.

The windscreen actually came from the packafeather folks, and it does not have handles. I just staged that photo badly. The handle is from the coleman french press. Even though that press is very heavy, I like it. The stove fits so perfectly that it doesn't rattle and it's well protected. Also, I like to make tea from wild plants, and the press makes that easy.

I have been meaning to outfit this one with some sort of remote adjustment. Posting this has helped me get inspired to do that. Thanks!

I just made my morning joe with this stove again, timing and measuring more carefully. I measured out 3/4 oz of fuel and 2 cups water. The water was just coming to a rolling boil when the fuel ran out- perfect! six minutes and 34 seconds to boil. Also, I solved the loose knob problem by just bending the bottle cap (knob) a little.

Granted, all this is in my kitchen (67 degrees F) with tap water that's about 50 degrees.

I am playing the role of Mr. Mom to my 4 month old son these days, so I won't be hitting the trail anytime soon. I'll have to satisfy myself with tinkering with my gear, for now.

I have been meaning to outfit this one with some sort of remote adjustment. Posting this has helped me get inspired to do that. Thanks!

A few years ago I purchased a FeatherFire/Packafeather and did some testing. I created a thread here and there are quite a few photos in it that might help get an Idea how someone else did a DIY stove project.

I bet your wife has red hair and you have moustache Thanks for sharing the photo of your son and the knowledge that you are a stay at home Dad. Lots of responsibility there. You can't take days off for illness like we see on tv. Stay well!!!